


blue eyes (at least they don't have flames beneath their skin)

by nightskywithrainbows



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Suki/Sokka/Zuko mild, be proud, but oh well, like very mild suzukki, this makes very little sense, you guys this is the third fic i've published today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightskywithrainbows/pseuds/nightskywithrainbows
Summary: ozai is a bad parent, and zuko is terrified of fire
Kudos: 28





	blue eyes (at least they don't have flames beneath their skin)

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so this is kinda old and is just laying around in my drive so i figured i'd publish it. i hope you like it!

Zuko is terrified of fire. 

Ironic, isn’t it, that the crown prince of the fire nation is scared shitless at the sight of white hot flame, of coal red hands, of the flames in the eyes of the Fire Lord.

Zuko was one, and Ozai would pick him up with too-hot arms when he cried.

Zuko was three, and Ozai would help him up when he fell with fire dancing underneath his palms.

Zuko was five, and no one could ever know. He had stolen food for Azula who was in training with her father, a rare occurrence but a revered one. He didn’t realize Ozai was still sitting there, watching him with white hot anger in his eyes and flames beneath his skin. 

That day, he was burned by Azula who like her father had flames beneath her skin but the burning in her eyes was blue white, cracking through her dilated pupils and regret in her face, cracking through her mind.

He didn’t blame her.

__________

That they occurred no more frequently than every few months didn’t matter (although that changed as he got older). That they were light burns, fading within days didn’t matter (although that changed as he got older, too). What mattered was the pain in the moment and how he could do nothing but endure a vicious cycle, pain and gone and pain again, and it would never stop.

In a way he was grateful when he was banished, grateful for the pain hotter than before, grateful for the disfigured face and blurry vision.

At least he was away, although he could do nothing but go back, and at least the others whose gaze promised pain, the disdain evident in their faces so like Ozai’s, at least they couldn't bear to look at his hideous face. 

At least they stayed away.  
__________

When Zuko went to the Southern Water tribe in search of the avatar, on the surface he felt nothing but cold, and he relished in that. He relished in the way his flames were suppressed. He relished in the way the persistent boy kept running at him with a spear, not a fireball. Zuko couldn’t be scared of him- after all, he had nothing in his eyes but blue.

__________

Years later, when the memories flood back, and he’s immersed in the sensation of burns that should last only a millisecond but don’t, burns that should fade but don't, he’s immeasurably grateful for the boy with blue eyes holding him, and the girl with blue eyes and golden fans who has vowed to protect him.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd also like to say that i had to look up if suki had blue eyes and honestly idk why i was so shocked by this


End file.
